Thursday, September 20, 2012

The Helmet

It was about 8pm or so when we parked in front of a unfamiliar house in the suburbs. Felt a bit odd and awkard place to pick up a piece of art, a helmet to be precise,,,it was also getting a bit dark too.
I was super excited to see my new helmet for the first time... I did not know what to expect, but had been thinking about this moment all day at work.

It was a few months ago when I met Jerrett @ the local kart track during one of the league races. We briefly talked about his helmet designs and some of his earlier work... a racer designing racer helmets! I knew i had found the right person for the task!

We exchanged contact info that day and a few weeks later i received the first sketches of the design. I was super excited to see this in my inbox, as i knew he was onto something...something special, special for me.


 
The design had all the characteristics of an era of Lotus Racing which i had been a HUGE fan off since i was a kid.  The black & gold JPS Lotus livery had been used extensively in the 70's and 80's,  a golden era for Lotus F1...  The cars between 1972 - 1986 ran these colors and won multiple championships and races, driven by the racing gods of those era's. This was a special time for the Lotus team...and the car looked beautiful from every angle.
 
So as a big Lotus fan boy, i knew exactly what type of helmet design i wanted. It had to be dedicated to that time, that era, to Chapman's team and their success! and with such a great color combo i knew this helmet would pop...and stand out, and most importantly give me a warm feeling every time I looked at it.
 
But a vision is nothing if you don't have the right hands, the right tools and the right eyes to craft it.
I knew I didn't, but Jerrett did. Just check out his website, his previous work... you'll get a sense that he is not just painting helmets for racers as a racer himself, but painting pieces of art that you wear during the most intense experiences and moments of a drivers life.
 
Strong and intense experiences allow people to connect and bond with the things they are attached to in those moments, and a helmet is no different. Each race, each "oh shit" moment, or the few, the rare victories... all help strengthen the bond of a driver and his helmet. These helmets don't just protect your head but can inspire you as a driver, be a visual trigger to endless racing memories...moments you can look back and remember. For others they are just pretty objects, but for us its much more then that...and Jerrett, the racer, knew this.
 
Long story, long story... I was happy like a kid when i saw the helmet that night, in his garage, on the desk he painted numerous other helmets. It was beautiful, crisp and to the point... and it had every single detail and the great lines that capture the essence of a JPS Lotus F1 car from that era... I'm a very happy customer, and look forward to working with Jerrett in the future again...and also racing against him! :)

Here are some pictures I took last night, enjoy:
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

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